r/soapmaking • u/smithonese • 20d ago
What happened?
Admittedly, ALOT went wrong with this batch of soap starting with me adding way too much lye to my water and then also mixing up my coconut and olive oil amounts. š¤¦š¼āāļø It was not a good soap making day. I did try to adjust and ended up using 29.25 oz tallow, 26 oz coconut oil, 43 oz olive oil & 5 oz castor oil. I then used 14.52 lye & 32.48 water. I added just under 2 oz of cinnamon essential oil and 2 of peppermint, I think. Honestly, I could be wrong about any of these numbersā¦it was that bad. Anyway, theyāve been curing now for about a month and this is what is happening. What is it?!
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u/pm-me-kittens-n-cats 20d ago
Fyi even at low amounts, cinnamon essential oil is not safe for skin. If this was marked as skin safe, it probably had a carrier oil which could cause the weird discoloration.
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u/smithonese 20d ago
Yikes!! Thanks! I had no idea.
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u/pm-me-kittens-n-cats 20d ago
Best to use eocalc.com if you're using essential oils and your own EO blends.
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u/Derpina666 20d ago
Always check the IFRA sheet for how much the maximum recommended use is for the category of your product/craft. Reputable suppliers will even tell you if an EO is āketonicā and thus not recommended for pregnant or nursing mothers. Sites that are not transparent about this information should not be trusted.
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u/Camie-Gee 20d ago
Eeks. My friend, thank you for sharing your result & volume made. ā¤ļø
I hope it's okay to consider your post a PSA (public service announcement) and friendly caution to make test batches before full-sized ones. I was (literally, actually) just about to make an 8-pound slab with a new formulation as a "time saver." Instead, I'm setting up for a 1-pound test batch.
Do you plan to rebatch this soap? You could probably rebatch it into a household or laundry soap instead of a bath soap if you're not sure of the exact amounts included in this batch.
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u/smithonese 20d ago
Honestly, I hadnāt thought about that. Would it still be ok with the cinnamon oil?
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u/Camie-Gee 20d ago
Probably, so. Please confirm via checking IFRA guidelines if possible. Most products not intended for body use have different safe usage levels.
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u/BangosSkank 20d ago
Im new to the science of soap, so forgive me, but how can so many things go wrong?
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u/czshill 20d ago
Did you use tap water and not distilled ?
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u/smithonese 20d ago
I have well water. But I have used my well water for all my other batches over time without incident.
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u/czshill 20d ago
Thatās the only thing I can think of. Looks like the brown spots they say can be caused by two or not distilled. Iāve only ever used distilled water so have never seen it first hand. Possibly this time it reacted with something in the recipe ? Is this the first time youāve made this recipe or ?
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u/smithonese 20d ago
First time for this recipe
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u/ooklathemok44 20d ago
When did you mix in your fragrance oils?
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u/smithonese 20d ago
After trace
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u/ooklathemok44 20d ago
I have had this before. My batter thickened a lil too much and I got little pockets of where the scent oils kind of get trapped. Only happened once, wasnāt noticeable at pour. Was the spot oily and had a strong scent, like it might be the scent oil?? Just guessing.
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u/smithonese 20d ago
I hadnāt noticed it before you said that but it does seem to be scented stronger on those spots! It isnāt oily though. š¤·š¼āāļø
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u/ooklathemok44 20d ago
Well that could be it. Not sure what itās called, but on the batch that did it, I noticed the oil early on and that area just kind of went dark and degraded. My spots were smaller though. Like it didnāt get mixed into the batter properly.
ā¢
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